A Bit More Cinematic

Almost everyone loves big explosions that don't happen to them in real life. Movies, literature, and tabletop games are full of notable examples. Warhammer 40K, 8th, has solid rules for vehicles (and some giant beasties) to go big when they exit the field due to enemy action. It's fun and cinematic, and it almost never happens.

A Six has to be rolled for this occur, and the Dice Gods are usually off having tea with Crom and ignore your pleas for a huge parting explosion to fell those damn Orks who just killed your favorite tank with a power klaw.

The game we played yesterday, Orks vs Chaos Knights, there was a real lack of anything exploding big. Inspiration thus struck and we now have the Michael Bay 'Splosion Rule!

It is a house rule to be sure, it does ramp up the randomness and chaos on the field, so if that is not your thing please ignore it. But it does deliver more satisfying big booms.

THE RULE:
If you fail to roll a Six on the Vehicle Explodes check, you MAY re-roll the die. Every time you re-roll you lose 1" off of the blast distance. If you wind up with a distance of Zero or negative, no explosion for you.

It is a fun addition if you feel like things just aren't blowing up enough. Clearly intended only for friendly games. Try the rules and let me know your thoughts on this.

Go Blow Up Some Stuff

Kill Team Knights

Playing a game of just Knights against each other in 40K is a great deal of fun.
Except when it isn't. Like when one side goes first and smokes half of your forces. Which is not that hard when you only brought four or five models.

Kill Team (and many other games) deals with this by alternating player turns. This is a game mechanic I think offers better results, and more enjoyable games. So like a olde tyme TV commercial about chocolate and peanut butter, lets see what happen when Knights are mixed with Kill team.

To be fair, this experiment is 40K with a Kill Team turn structure. So you still build your force, pick a Warlord plus traits, and use Stratagems, all from the Codex.

We picked a 100 PL list of Knights (I used 102...the Knights list isn't really granular..) and then played just like Kill Team (KT). It worked surprisingly well, and gave that tactical flavor that is missing from smaller games of 40K.

We did run into a few situations, which are addressed by some house rules:

Command Points. I like the way KT  generates Command Points (CP) every turn, but the 40K Stratagems are made expecting you to start with a few CP. So we decided that both sides start with 3 CP and generate 1 per turn, and a bonus 1 if your Warlord is still alive.

Morale. For our cinematic purposes we decided Vehicles auto-pass Morale Checks.

Long Range Modifiers. Vehicle mounted weapons (not pintle mounts) do not suffer from Long Range mods.

Splitting Fire: Vehicles may split fire freely, but must declare all targets before any weapons fire.

It's fun, easy, and makes for a more enjoyable robot fighting time!

    Go Roll Some Dice

With a More Even Distribution of Killing

Multi-Tool Whirlwind

Waaay back in the early 1990's my Whirlwinds were the backbone of my army for both 40K and Space Marine (Epic). Of course the Marines didn't have a lot to choose from. But that was what made them good. Five different tanks tailored for different roles, all working together.

The Whirlwind was the long range bombardment, sure, but it had a decent anti-tank role as well. There were no rules for aircraft yet, but in the fluff it was said a few times the Whirlwind was the also the Space Marines anti-aircraft platform, which makes perfect sense. Space Marines have some of the best tech of the Imperium, so a AFV that packed multi-purpose missiles fits them perfectly.

I had made a pair of Whirlwinds as shown in White Dwarf #117 using left-over Rhino parts and bases. They rocked.

Then came 2nd edition, and the fancy new metal turret, but weaker rules.

A myriad of newer Space Marine vehicles arrived and the mighty Whirlwind begun its decades long slide into near-uselessness. Forge World brought forth a dedicated anti-aircraft version, The  Hyperios, but it still lacked the utility of the original Whirlwind. The new Hunter/Stalker is a good AA platform but: A)is still only just a AA tank, and B) not for the Blood Angels, Space Wolves, and (most importantly for me), the Dark Angels.

So what to do? House Rule time.  

The Space Marines clearly have the tech for a missile launcher that has different ammo types. The basic Infantry Missile Launcher, and the Typhoon Missile launcher do this well. So should the Whirlwind, just bigger and better. Here in my simple proposal:

The Whirlwind is armed with a Vengeance Missile Launcher. Like the Typhoon launcher, it can be fired one of several different ways each turn.

Frag warhead:  Range:12"-72" Str:5, AP:4, Large blast, Barrage 2
Krak warhead: Range: 48" Str:8, AP:3, Heavy 2

May add one addition missile type:

Incendiary warhead, Range:12"-72" Str:4, AP:5, Large blast, Barrage 2, ignores cover, +15 points
Flakk Missile, Range: 48"  Str:7, AP2, Skyfire 2, +20 points

I think this goes a long way to making the Whirlwind a viable weapon again. It is not as good as any dedicated platform like the Basilisk or Hunter, but it can do it all, and that is what the Marines need.

The Emperor Protects

And Rains Death Upon the Heritics

Tyranid Attack Mission

Way back in 2nd Edition 40K there was a tense mission called "Tyranid Attack". The 'Nids had six turns to kill everything on the table. All their dead units came back on as reinforcements. They usually won. Now it's time to redo this classic mission for 7th.

The Armies
Choose armies to an agreed point total.

The Battlefield
Set up terrain then roll for random deployment zones.

Deployment
Roll to choose deployment zone, defenders set up first.

First Turn
The Tyranids are the attacker and get first turn.

Game Length
The mission uses variable game length.

Victory Conditions
The Tyranid player wins if there are no defending units on the field at the end of the game.
Units that are falling back or in reserve are at the end are not considered for victory conditions.

Mission Special Rules
Reserves

At the start of the turn, the Tyranid player forms her destroyed units into squads. These squads may be deployed with a different size than they started with, but must still conform to minimum/maximum squad sizes. Then the Tyranid player rolls for each squad. On a 4+ that unit is placed anywhere in the Tyranid's deployment zone or into ongoing reserves if desired.
Then rolls for reserves (if any) are made as normal.


Next up, a Tyranid  Attack BatRep

The Hive Hungers

And is Coming For Lunch

An Arsenal of Doom

Orks love the dakka. The more the better. In our continuing exploration of the Ork Great Gargant in conjunction with In The Grim Cheapness of the Future (where you can see the beast taking shape) we shall cast our eye upon the very essence of the Ork reverence of the Gargant: raw firepower.

One can broadly characterize two levels of weapons on the Gargant. Let's examine each in some detail.

Primary 
The "typical" Gargant has three main weapons, a massive belly cannon with a slow rate of fire and two weapon "arms". These can be any of a wide range of types. Here are the stats I have pieced together from all the sources I could find. Balanced out against other 40K weapons, but mostly my own best guess.

Weapon                                 Range         Str        AP         Special                       
Gut Buster Belly Kannon        72"          10/9/8    1/2/3      Apocalyptic Blast, Slow*
                                                                                            Ordnance

Mega Kannon                         96"            D            3         7" Blast, Ordnance

Twin Deth Kannon                  72"            10           1        7" Blast, Heavy 2,
                                                                                            Ordnance

Cluster Kannon                       60"            8             3          5" Blast, Barrage D3+3

Kombi-Ripper Arm                  -                 D            1          +3 Attacks, Melee
 -Twin Kilkannons                  36"              7             3          5" Blast, Heavy 2  

*Slow: Weapon can only fire every other turn.

Secondary
Two shoulder turrets are common to Great Garants, as is the Gaze of Mork. A few secondary weapons can be found in hull emplacements on some. Most smaller weapons can and are attached almost anywhere.

Weapon                                 Range         Str        AP         Special                       
Heavy KillKannon                  48"             9              3           5" Blast

Supa-Flamer                      Hellstorm        6             3          Template

Mega Gatler                           48"             7             3          Heavy 3D6+3

Lobba Battery                        72"              5            4          Barrage 4, 5"Blast

Gaze of Mork                        48"             10            1          Heavy 2, Twin Linked

Supa Rokkit                           240"           8              3          5" Blast, One use

Big Shoota                             36"             5             5           Heavy 3

Cluster Rokkit Launcha         36"             8              3         Heavy D6+2

Flakk Gunz                            48"             7             4          Heavy 4, Twin-Linked,
                                                                                          Skyfire

This entry will be updated a few times as I'm still fine tuning the weapons, feel free to leave any comments on the stats down below.
Next up: My Datasheet for the Great Gargant.

More, More, MOAR DAKKA!

Too much is still not enough

Tyranid Tweaks

As a new week comes to a close, I still don't have a copy of the Harlequin codex to review. I have been told the shipment bound for my FLGS is stuck in the snow somewhere where they get snow.
It's a nice 77 degrees here with a pleasant breeze coming from the ocean.

So, let's talk about the Tyranids a bit, shall we? I know the Tyranids are not "broken" still they play differently than they used to, and frankly differently than I and a few of my fellow Warlords want them to. One of the great things about having a, um, let's say, "mature" gaming group is the willingness to try things to make the game more enjoyable for all.

Here are a few easy rules tweaks we are playing with:

ALL monstrous creatures get Feel No Pain (5+).      
Far too many high AP weapons and other shooting shenanigans (I'm looking at you Eldar!)
The big ones just die too fast and easy nowadays. By giving them Feel No Pain it puts just enough uncertainty back into fighting them. We want the big adrenaline fueled monsters being driven on by the Hive Mind to feel more like it.

Fast and Deadly: Any unit with Fleet may run and charge in the same turn.
Remember when Genestealers were scary? Ravagers were worth their points? Hormagaunts bounded across the table? This works very well now to give a bit more balance back to a close combat army.

Hive Guard are BS:4 and WS:3.
Why the hell did this get changed from last Codex? The fluff on this is great, this unit lives to shoot, and has been made to do so.

And of course our Lictor changes.
Because Lictors should be fun.

And we are thinking letting the Trygon shoot OR assault the turn it arrives. We will have to playtest that one first. Should be interesting.

The Hive Mind Hungers

And Wants More Hand to Hand to Mandible

Predator Autocannon Rant

In some game systems new expansions devalue the old units that made the game and universe what it is. Where your core units that are supposed to be the majority of your forces are replaced by new units that are much better that you never take the standard ones again. It is a old problem, and not one exclusive to GW by any means.

It has a few names, power creep, shiny new syndrome, expansion-itis, and more. Car Wars, Battletech, and Star Fleet Battles are a few examples of this. By and large GW has done a pretty good job of keeping it under control, but a few units do come to mind, and I will be talking about these other ones in weeks to come.

I love Predators, ever since my first GW vehicle model (seen above on the left). More specifically, I love the look of the Predator with the autocannon turret. Next to the ever present Rhino, the Predator is the mainstay armored fighting vehicle of most Space Marine chapters. The most common variant is the Predator Destructor with it's turret mounted autocannon to chop up infantry and sponson lascannons for armored targets. A classic combination that has totally fallen by the wayside.

Way back in Rogue Trader and 2nd Edition days, the autocannon was a really good weapon. Strength 8, -3 Save (that meant folk in power armor could only save on a 6) and a random but usually fair amount of shots. It was not very good at penetrating vehicle armor, but that is what the sponsons were for.

That all changed with 3rd edition on up. Simplifying the game meant some weapons lost what made them effective. Lots of weapons were rightly dropped altogether. The autocannon was downgraded to make it a less powerful infantry squad version, which is fine, but the Predator's gun should have gotten an upgrade.

The Annihilator version's twin lascannons are good for anti-tank work, but the Destructor's single autocannon is inadequate for its intended role as hunter of infantry and light vehicles. How best to fix that? The Leman Russ Exterminator recently got a upgrade for its autocannons: Twin liked and 4 shots. That is nice, and much better than it was before.

The vehicle mounted autocannon having a increased rate of fire makes sense. It represents a large magazine feeding the gun as opposed to a soldier loading small clips as well as a more robust firing mechanism. The Predator's gun has a much longer barrel. This is key to increasing ballistic weapons muzzle velocity, which equates to longer range, better accuracy, and hitting power. The range on a autocannon is already high, and boosting it's AP or strength doesn't seem right in game terms, but giving it Rending fits well.

So that leave us with:

Predator Autocannon
Range: 48"  S:7  AP:4  Heavy 3, Rending

Give it a try, let me know what you think.

The Emperor Protects

And remembers how it was supposed to be

Happy Chaos-giving!

In honor of our American holiday celebrating unintended consequences, I bring you a guest article written by Arch-Heretic Pete:

Five Step Chaos Program

            Let me be clear right up front.  I love the Ruinous Powers.  I’m dedicated to them.  I first got into this game with the old Tyranid snap-together models (back in the late ‘90s), but the minute Marcus showed me the Chaos codex and I read the descriptions of the Legions, I was hooked.  I had an Alpha Legion army back when they weren’t cool.  And that army grew and fractured, so now I have over 4000 points of Legionnaires, but also a solid Thousand Sons force, a Death Guard army, a fair chunk of World Eaters, and enough Emperor’s Children for a very nice Allied force.

            I’m with Chaos.  I’m invested.  I’m here to stay.

            That being said...

            Chaos has been getting screwed for a while now.

            I don’t say this out of anger or nerdrage, just as an honest fact.  The past two Chaos codexes have been very weak.  They’ve been weak compared to what came before them.  They’ve been weak compared to other contemporary codexes.  There are lots of folks who will pound their math hammers and tell you the current Chaos codex is perfectly fine as long as you take this and this and this and use them like that... but I’ve always felt that any codex that only offers one viable build is kind of a failure.  A big aspect of this game is the variety, and what little variety the Chaos Marine Codex has is... well, pretty useless.  Hands up, anyone who’s seen a lot of Mutilators out on the battlefield...

            But I digress.  Just a little.

            While talking with our host here the other week, it struck me that the Chaos Marine codex could be improved drastically with just a handful of tiny tweaks.  I’m not going to talk about stat lines or wargear or pricing (okay, maybe once about pricing).  These are much simpler tweaks which would let Chaos feel like a more viable army.

            So, here are my suggestions and the reasoning behind them.  If anyone happens to be a major stockholder in Games Workshop, please feel free to pass them on.  Even if it’s just for a good laugh...

1)  Force Organization Chart

            An army with a Chaos Lord on a Bike may take Bike Squads of 5 or more models as troops.

            An army with a Chaos Lord with a Jump Pack may take Raptor squads as troops

            An army with a Warpsmith may take one Helbrute as a troops choice.

            An army with a Daemon Prince may take one Possessed squad as troops if they share the same Chaos god.

-------------------------

            The only character in the Chaos Marine codex who truly unlocks/alters the FOC is Abaddon.  If you think about it, Kharn, Ahriman, Typhus, and Lucius don’t do anything to the chart that any Lord or Sorcerer with a 5 point mark of Chaos couldn’t do.  This rules tweak gives Chaos armies the same flexibility that loyalist Marines do, able to have an army that reflects the sometimes wild structural and tactical decisions a Chaos Lord may make.

            Plus... Doomrider!  Think about it.

2) Retinues

            Any Chaos Lord, Chaos Sorcerer, or Dark Apostle (including Huron Blackheart, Kharn, Ahriman, Lucius, and Fabius Bile) may take one Chosen squad as a personal retinue.  This unit does not use up any HQ or Elites slots.  All options and prices remain the same.

            Any Chaos Lord or Sorcerer in Terminator Armor (including Abaddon and Typhus) may take one Chaos Terminator squad as a personal retinue.  This unit does not use up any HQ or Elites slots.  All options and prices remain the same.

-------------------------

            Slightly related to the first rule.  Loyalist Marines get numerous “free” units in the form of Honor Guard, Command Squads, Techmarines, and so on, which means they have a lot more flexibility when filling out their force organization chart.  Not to mention Imperial Guard, Dark Eldar, Necrons, et al...  Giving Chaos Lords a retinue just puts them on the same footing as pretty much every other Codex.  Plus, a Terminator retinue is exactly the kind of brute force thing to clearly separate Chaos from loyalists.

3) Veterans of the Long War

            For all of the original legions (Black Legion, Emperor’s Children, Iron Warriors, World Eaters, Word Bearers, Death Guard, Thousand Sons, or Alpha Legion), Veterans of the Long War is free for any unit it applies to.  Non-legion Chaos armies may purchase the Veterans of the Long War rule at the listed cost per model.

-------------------------

            Now that Space Marine Chapters are getting free bonus rules just for their paint scheme, it seems unfair not to give the Legions the same advantage.  Especially when it should’ve been a given rule for them from the start.

            Yes, this means the Red Corsairs or anyone’s favorite home-brew army have to pay a few extra points.  But the original legions need to be distinguished somehow, and this is the easiest way.  Plus at least a third of the players out there will just argue “counts as” anyway and say their Red Corsairs army is using Black Templars rules, sooooo...

4) No more Havocs

            The entry for Havocs is removed from the army list.

-------------------------

            Pretty straightforward.  Havocs are, in my opinion, a weird holdover from when Chaos Marines were just Space Marines with horns and spikes.  They don’t really fit the idea of a wild, unrestricted army when their squad size and weapons options are almost a dead ringer for Devastator squads (without the ability to split fire).  Besides, the last rule kind of makes up for this...

5) Chaos Marines

            On page 95  remove bullet points three of the Chaos Space Marine entry.  Replace the first sentence of bullet point four as follows...

            For every five models in the squad, one Chaos Space Marine may replace his bolt pistol with a plasma pistol....................................15pts

            Or replace his boltgun with one of the following:

-------------------------          

            Under the past two codexes, Space Marines can build lots of very flexible, five-man tactical squads using the Combat Squads rule.  Chaos Marines, on the other hand, have been forced to take a ten man squad just to have a heavy bolter. 

            This new rule reflects the “warband” nature of Chaos Marines in two ways.  One is that it allows for a huge amount of special or heavy weapons in one squad (very un-codex).  Two is that it keeps the idea of one champion having absolute control and not letting those under him out of his sight.  So it’s possible to create a massive troops squad of twenty Chaos Marines with four flamers, or four meltaguns, or four lascannons... but they won’t be allowed too far from their champion.

            This also means siege/firepower-centric armies can field lots of heavy weapons and still have all their heavy slots open for tanks or daemon vehicles.  Good news for Iron Warriors or Word Bearers.

            And there you have it.  Feel free to correct, debate, or mock down in the comments.  Now let’s all give thanks to the Ruinous Powers.  And have stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Let the Galaxy Burn

Just not Dinner

Why No Assault Troop Army?

Space Marine players have been able to take an all Biker army since Fourth Edition. What has been missing the last two editions is the all Assault Trooper army. My question today is why?

If a Space Marine Captain or Master takes a bike then Bike Squads count as Troops. His Command Squad can also take bikes. Great. Nicely thematic and makes sense since all Tactical Marines have been trained on bikes. Also good if you are representing one of the reserve companies.

This is not true if your Captain/Master takes a Jump Pack. This strikes me as strange since all Tactical Marines have been trained on Jump packs and had to spend time in a Assault Squad.

Of course this all stems from the fact that I want to start a new Marine Army. I have 10,000 points of Dark Angels and 4,000 of Space Wolves, so I wanted a more Codex-y Chapter. Maybe Ultramarines, maybe a new Chapter. I wanted a Space Marine aerospace assault themed force. Jump troops, Land Speeders, Stormtalon/ravens, that sort of thing. I happily sat down with the new codex to hammer out a new army and found I really couldn't do it. Lame.

The main stumbling block being the inability to take Assault Troops as a Troop choice. The solution is easy. The real question is there any reason is shouldn't be allowed? A Space Marine on a bike cost more, but is much more effective that a Space Marine with a Jump Pack. Is there something I am missing or did the powers who wrote the new Codex just didn't think of it? At any rate, were is my fix.

Airborne Assault: If a detachment includes a Chapter Master or Captain equipped with a Jump Pack, Assault Squads of a least ten models may be taken as troop choices instead of fast attack.

Add to Command Squad Options:
The entire squad may take jump packs..........15 points.

And that's it. Please leave your comments for or against it.

The Emperor Protects

With Jet packs!

Stompas 2.0

With the new Apocalypse comes the scramble to make old units compatible. This Sunday we are going to have our first official Apocalypse battle, so I needed to get the Ork heavy metal into line.  Stompas went up in price by good bit, so using some voodoo math and a touch of "that seems right", here are the stats for my two Stompas.

First up is what I wanted to be a heavy command unit. As tricked out as a Mekboy stompa, just geared in a different way. A Flamestorm cannon from a Baal Predator replaces the twin-linked big shoota on the Mega Choppa arm and makes a great Flame Belcha. A pair of nice big Gaze of Mork eyes round out the monster.

BOSS MAULER

950 Points

Super-heavy Walker

WS:4  BS:2  S:10  ARMOR I:1  A:4  HP:12

WARGEAR:

Gaze of Mork

Deff Kannon

Supa-gatler

Mega-choppa

Flame Belcha

Three big shootas

Four Supa-rokkits

SPECIAL RULES:

Effigy

Power Fields

TRANSPORT:

Capacity: 20 Models.

Fire Points: 4

Access Points: One at the rear.

Next we have the answer to the question; Just how shooty can we make a Stompa? Very. Two Death Kannons and a Leman Russ battle cannon provide the blast weapons. Various gun barrels from Ork, Guard, both kinds of Marines, and seven Supa-rokkits make up the Deff Arsenal. 

GUNHEAD

875 Points

Super-heavy Walker

WS:4  BS:2  S:10  ARMOR I:1  A:4  HP:12

WARGEAR:

Two Deff Kannon

Boomgun

Three big shootas

Deff Arsenal

SPECIAL RULES:

Effigy

TRANSPORT:

Capacity: 20 Models.

Fire Points: 4

Access Points: One at the rear.

I printed out a nice data sheet on heavy cardstock for each one. I really like the way they turned out so I think I am going to do that for all my super-heavy units. Even Mrs. Blackheart's cheesy Eldar units.

Next up: The Apocalypse battle report.

Smash 'umies!

Korgor The Bloodmad

Crushed skulls count as well.

Korgor the Bloodmad…………………………165 points

Korgor the Bloodmad is a Khornate daemon bound in the hull of an Ironclad Dreadnought captured by the World Eaters warband known as Kylar’s Chosen.

                                   __Armor__                               

            WS  BS    S       F     S     R      I      A    HP

Korgor   5    3    6/10   13   12    10    4      3     3          

Unit Composition:

· 1 (Unique)

Unit Type:

· Vehicle (Walker)

Wargear:

· Powerfist with built in heavy flamer

· Powerfist with built in melta gun

Special Rules:

· Daemonic Possession

· Rage

· Blood Madness

Blood Madness: After the first kill Korgor makes, either by shooting or hand to hand, Korgor gains the Preferred Enemy special rule for the rest of the game. During the move phase he must always move towards an enemy unit. He must always attempt to charge an enemy unit if there is one in range.

Elite: Korgor is an Elites choice for a Chaos Space Marine army that includes at least one HQ selection that has a mark of Khorne.

*******************************************************************
Welcome to the new section cleverly called, New Units. Here I hope to give you nice people a place to display your creations. The 40K universe is really quite big and there are many undocumented heroes, villains  creatures, and vehicles. The old Vehicle Design Rules were never perfect, but I liked them a lot. For many years rumors circulated of a Character Design Rules set to appear in the White Dwarf. That of course never came to pass, but it was a great idea for non-competitive gaming. Put just a little bit of the Role Playing element back into a game that kinda started out as a R.P.G.

So here we are. I have several creations I will be posting in the coming months, but I really want to see yours. Send me the new unit's stats and history with a picture and I will post it. Big or small, from a new super heavy tank to a special veteran sergeant upgrade. Having more units can only increase our enjoyment on the battlefield.

The Emperor Protects

But an escape plan never hurt

The Non-Powered Armor League is Go!

Actual forces may vary.

An idea long time in the making is finally here. A 40K League without Space Marines.
Why? Hmm, good question. There was a very good reason many years ago, but for now it is why not.

Here are the rules:
Standard force organization chart, 1750points. Your army may not have any troop choices that have a 3+(or better) save. So no Space Marines of any ilk, Sisters of Battle, or Necrons. And also you cannot take Mega-nobs, Wraithguard, et al as troops due to special rules.

Each player will play each other once in round one. So in a six person League everybody will play five games. After Round one is complete all players will be free to change their army list but not their race.

Points will be awarded to winner/defeated by the level of victory and loss for the game:
Massacre: 5/0 VP
Major Victory: 4/1 VP
Minor Victory: 3/2 VP

If the mission objective result is a tie, then we will go to Kill Points for the tie breaker, if still tied then each side will get 2 points.
The Kill Points:
HQ 3
Elite 2
Heavy 2
Fast 2
Troop 1
Dedicated transport vehicles 1
Plus bonus Kill Points per some missions.
 
Up next, the Missions, the Players, and the Schedule.

Lictor Redux

"There's Something in those trees..."



Lictor. One of the iconic Tyranid creatures, a master infiltrator, pathfinder for the Swarm, and a peerless killer with lighting fast speed. I want the stats to reflect this once again. Starting with it's debut in 1995 the Lictor was a bit of a boogyman. It would pop out and murder a squad then be put down in a hail of gunfire. Fine, but the current rules for it have it poping out and then getting shot up before it can even move or assault. I went through all four editions of the Tyranid Codices to make the Lictor of my nightmares.
So here are our current house rules for the Lictor. I'm am only listing changes or additions to the current rules.

Preternatural Reflexes: The Lictor receives a 4+ invulnerable save to all attacks.

Cameleonic Skin: Lictors always start the game off-table. At the start of any Tyranid shooting phase the Tyranid player may place any number of off-table Lictors onto the board. They may be placed anywhere that is more than 6" from any enemy model. If the Lictor is placed inside a piece of terrian it may be up to 1" away from an enemy model. Lictors may shoot or fleet and assault on the turn they arrive.

Pheromone Trail: Each Lictor taken allows the Tyranid player to re-roll one Reserves roll per turn regardless of whether the Lictor is in play or not.

We have playtested these rule changes five times now, and they work very well. The 4+ dodge seems overpowering but it isn't in practice. I would like feedback on these house rules if you try them out.

Good Hunting!